Just an observation…Leaders who act as underdogs are succeeding.
Underdogs are game changers characterized by an entrepreneurial spirit shaped in the spirit of reward for risk.
While the media continues to be fascinated with the size of deals, the scale of competition, we have observed that a game led by unconventional leaders is being shaped largely below the radar screen. And, even more interesting, with underdogs’ successes, the corporate behemoths are forced to respond and play catch up.
We speak not only of the easy to identify technology, and biotech breakthroughs, but also in areas like retail, leisure, among many others. Look at the mavericks like Bernie Marcus who conceptualized the concept of the Home Depot and basically reshaped the home improvement retail sector or Sheldon Adelson who has redefined the “Las Vegas Model” and expanding in Asia. One could also look at Michael Dell or Larry Ellison of Oracle.
Here is our key observation:
The one commonality is how these game changers assess economic opportunity and see risk with a level of intuition that corporate staffs of major companies, can’t comprehend. It’s this decision making intangible that fact based analyses fails to factor in.
The real trick for these leaders is how to keep this edge in the face of growth and success.